Foreign Policy #1: Drones
This is a relatively new and relatively relevant (whoa) issue, and it’s featured in the prompt very deliberately. Therefore, I shall blog about it. Before getting into the meaty controversy behind...
View ArticleCivic Issues: Drone out the Noise
Technology and the advances into new inventions have changed a multitude of aspects affecting our foreign policy, and will continue to as we continually innovate ad optimize how we run our military,...
View ArticleCivic Issues: State of the Union
While I had the unfortunate luck of being the only one in our group to have to post the week of THON, I was fortunate enough to have the week of the annual Presidential idealist stump speech: The State...
View ArticleCivic Issue: Unstable North
Catching up on the news this morning, I was more intrigued than usual, as well as frightened, to learn that there was an apparent nuclear test in North Korea earlier this morning. Of course, the mere...
View ArticleState of the Union Address
Just last night, President Barack Obama delivered his fourth State of the Union address to the United States Congress as well as to the American people. To the surprise of many, this speech focused...
View ArticleReflecting on the Iraq War on its 10th Birthday
Yesterday, I stumbled across an article in the New York Times analyzing the Bush administration’s decision to go to war with Iraq exactly decade ago, yesterday. The article, written by David E. Sanger,...
View ArticleWIP #5: Persuasive Topic
My topic of choice for the persuasive essay speech is the U.S. foreign drone policy. I will be taking a stance against the use of armed drones. My main points for supporting my stance will be: 1) The...
View ArticleIn Deo Nos Confidimus?
As soon as we think things are winding down, the world starts spinning faster than we could have imagined – throwing many of us for a loop. Nearly a month ago, there was word of “gay priests, male...
View ArticleReflections On My First Visit to Washington D.C.
Last week, I had the opportunity to visit Washing D.C. along with 9 other students as part of the Schreyer Honors College’s Distinguished Honors Faculty Program. The purpose of the visit was to meet...
View ArticleDreading Drones
I realize that aside from dealing with US foreign policy, my civic issues blogs have not had a unifying theme or purpose. This has been difficult to capture because it is such a broad topic, and this...
View ArticleIn Response to Mitch and Jake’s Blogs on our Class Discourse
Both Mitch and Jake worked discussions of international relations into their class debate posts, a perfect segue from the Snowden discussion to a broader scope of ideas. Mitch’s post addressed the...
View ArticleGotta be Fair
As a U.S. citizen, I often mull over the complications of foreign affairs. In one moment I feel exasperated over the sometimes impotent attempts of our leaders at international problem solving, and in...
View ArticleSyria: Choosing a Side
The Syrian Revolution has been making headlines since 2011, growing increasingly complex and unstable as the Assad regime and its Hezbollah allies wage war against a variety of rebel groups, including...
View ArticleArgo and Orientalism
The 2013 film Argo, winner of the Oscar award for best picture, is based on the true story of six American diplomats who escaped the 1979 takeover and siege of the U.S. embassy by Iranian students....
View ArticleSpeaking Softly
In the complex world of diplomacy, governments are almost constantly switching between the use of incentives and threats as they try to gain foreign cooperation. The United States, as an influential...
View ArticleRemoving Russia from the G8
Russian President Vladimir Putin has always been somewhat unpredictable, seldom taking the course that other world leaders would deem only logical. His recent decision to intervene in Crimea and...
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